Social Distortion front man Mike Ness has come a long way from the days of his cramped, one-room Fullerton apartment that served as the base of the burgeoning Orange County punk scene in the 1980s. Now, about 30 years and six Social Distortion albums later, Ness has relocated to Newport Beach where he lives with his wife and two children. Just as Ness has become somewhat removed from his Fullerton punk roots, so too has Social Distortion’s first album since 2004, “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes.”
The album opens with the instrumental track “Road Zombie,” which captures the punk legend’s trademark 1980s sound, mixing even parts of driving, guitar-drenched punk and western rockabilly twang.
However, the album then veers into somewhat uncharted territory for Social Distortion, focusing much more on the country and rock “˜n’ roll aspects of the band’s sound, while relegating their punk roots to the back burner. The track “California (Hustle and Flow)” has a much more classic rock “˜n’ roll feel, resulting in a song that comes off as very Rolling Stones-esque. “Can’t Take It With You,” ventures even further into this territory, featuring prominent piano riffs and backing gospel vocals.
At times, “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes,” seems heavy on the “Nursery Rhymes,” and light on the “Hard Times.” For example, “Bakersfield” is a six-and-a-half-minute long ballad that eventually gives way to an organ-backed spoken word section. “Diamond in the Rough” and “Writing on the Wall” are two other down-tempo songs that sound more like country-rock than anything else.
However, the album isn’t completely devoid of the Social Distortion that fans have come to know and love with songs such as “Gimme the Sweet and Lowdown” and “Still Alive,” the latter of which is a surprisingly uplifting retrospective that closes the album. The album’s lead single, “Machine Gun Blues,” channels the band’s classic sound and is the most upbeat and punk-sounding track on the album.
On the whole, “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes” confronts the listener with a Social Distortion that has, to a certain degree, lost the fast-paced and edgy 1980s punk sound that revolutionized the Orange County punk movement. However, after more than 20 years of making music, one would expect the band to evolve musically.
Lyrically, the album is also a departure from Social Distortion’s previous releases. Whereas previous albums have been dominated by chronicles of Ness’ trials and tribulations, “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes” contains a mix of highly personal but positive lyrics, less personalized and somewhat cliched rock “˜n’ roll lyrics and fictitious accounts of the 1930s gangster lifestyle.
Though longtime fans of Social Distortion may view the lyrical shift as an unwelcome change, perhaps it is not such a bad thing. Maybe it’s a good thing that as a 48-year-old father of two, Ness has found better things to write about than his struggles with drug abuse and all of his other numerous personal demons.
“Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes,” is by no means a bad rock album, especially by today’s standards. It just isn’t that stellar of a Social Distortion album.
E-mail Somasundaram at nsomasundaram@media.ucla.edu